Chapter 41. A Date? (5/13)

By the time I snapped out of my state of deep thought we’d already gone our separate ways from Mari and her boyfriend. They’d departed on their own while we were left seated on a bench next to one another. She still had her body glued to my arm.

I couldn’t help but open my mouth, “How long do you intend to hug my arm and keep up this act? Your friend and her boyfriend have already left, right?”

“I know your secret. If you don’t let me stay like this until I calm down I won’t forgive you and I’ll reveal it to everyone.”

“If you’re this bad with horror movies I can only imagine how much your little brother has suffered.” I decided to throw out his name to test the waters and what her reaction would be.

When she was reminded of her little brother her eyes sunk a bit and the strength in her arms weakened a bit.

So she felt a sense of powerlessness when it came to her little brother. Something was definitely up like I thought.

“Yeah… you’re right… my little brother has definitely suffered a lot because of me.”

“Hmm… it doesn’t sound like you’re just referring to when you two used to watch horror movies together.”

“Mmmm.” With a nod in confirmation, she didn’t even try to hide it. She was too straightforward and honest to a tee.

“Hey, Alicia, I have a small request I’d like to make of you.”

“Oh? This is rare, what is it?” She unconsciously leaned a bit more of her weight against my side.

I came straight out without holding back and asked, “I’d like to visit your place.”

“Visit… my place… Huuuuh! What? Wait. What? Wait, wait, wait a minute! Visit my place? Huh? But why? Where is this coming from all of a sudden?” Immediately after she repeated my words and her brain fully registered their meaning, her grip around my arm tightened momentarily before she stood up from the bench and released it in an overly flustered state. She looked at my face trying to figure it out in her head while rapidly firing out a string of confused questions.

“Well, I just realized, Isn’t it normal for someone you consider a friend to visit your place? But I guess if you are so against it I suppose your desire to convert your enemy into your friend was just that shallow of an objective.”

“Ugh. No, now that you mention it… you’re right. Having a friend over to your place is something... normal. I should have realized that sooner. It’s just… I’ve never actually brought a friend over to my place before.” She awkwardly scratched her cheek with a troubled look on her face.

When she said that, I was genuinely shocked. A girl as popular as her had never brought a friend over to her place before? But why? Something like that sounded utterly incomprehensible to me. If this was truly the case, there definitely had to be a reason she didn’t invite anyone over.

“In all honesty, I really just want to meet your little brother and manipulate him into becoming a useful tool I can use him to blackmail you.” I didn’t bother to hide my true intentions.

“You… is that something you’d really tell me so openly? Shouldn’t you have kept your ulterior motives to yourself?”

“With the way you’re such an open book about everything, it would be too easy to blindside you and attack you from the dark. That would make things rather boring, would it not? Giving a handicap like this makes the playing field equal.”

“Why would someone who considers me an enemy care about an equal playing field?”

“Because you’re too nice for your own good.”

“After telling me your intentions do you really think I’d let you visit my place?”

“Yes. After all, because of how nice a certain someone is, they’re probably feeling REALLY guilty about SELFISHLY taking up the entirety of my ONE DAY OFF that I use to RECUPERATE after 6 LONG GRUELING days of school AND work.” With each word I emphasized, Alicia shrunk back as though my words were pins and needles being thrust directly into her heart. She staggered a bit when I gave voice to the last word.

“I’d imagine that person would like to find some way to make up for that. They’re just so kind they even care about someone who considers them an enemy.”

“I get it! I get it! Okay? Fine. You just want to visit my place to talk to my little brother, right? So be it. But... when exactly do you intend to come over?”

“When? Right now of course. It’s only 7:00 PM.”

“Ugh. Right now? That’s a bit… soon don’t you think?”

“What’s wrong? Did you need time to clean up your room because it’s in a mess?”

She staggered again. “N-N-Not at all. O-Of course not.”

“Great. Then there shouldn’t be any problem if we head over to your place TOGETHER right now.”

“Y-Yeah. N-No problem at all.” Her expression was stiff. I couldn’t help but find her reactions adorable when I teased her like this.

“Then, would you lead the way?”

“Mmm.” She nodded with visible reluctance in defeat.

She walked in front of me while I walked a step behind her. Not able to look me in the face she sheepishly complained to herself, “Is it really that fun bullying a weak little girl like me?”

“Yeah, it is. Quite fun actually.” I responded even when I knew she didn’t expect an answer back.

It was quite cold outside, enough to see our breaths whenever we exhaled. Snow littered the ground and the banks were piled up to waste level. The sidewalks had been cleared, but there was more snow on the way falling as we walked close together.

“It’s gotten pretty cold today. It was a lot warmer in the morning.” Alicia spoke softly while holding her hands together and folding one sleeve of her jacket under the other to create a seal that provided insulation and prevented heat from escaping her body too quickly.

It was quite dark outside already, the light hours only grew shorter every day as the winter solstice drew ever closer. It wouldn’t be long, about half a month away to be precise.

She didn’t have a scarf on so her cheeks had turned red from the cold. If it were summer and seen from a third-party observer, it would look more like she was blushing beside her lover while walking alone together at night.

I removed the scarf I had on and tossed it over her head from behind before I wrapped it around her securely.

“What are you doing?” She asked with a tinge of embarrassment in her voice.

“Finals are approaching. For a student who’s holding the top spot in her grade, it would be detrimental to you if you got sick, with only a little over a week before finals at that. You’d miss out on days to study, and in the worst case, you may end up having to face finals while sick if you’re really unlucky.”

“Since it doesn’t seem like you currently have a job, and you’re working so hard to maintain high academic standing, it goes without saying you’ve probably set your sights on scholarship money by the time you graduate, right? A role model student with high grades like you would only be expected to aim for university post-graduation as well. Your last two years of high school are what the school uses when considering who to award scholarship money to. The first year actually isn’t that important. They look at things like growth for certain scholarships as well after all.”

“Take care of your health is all I’m trying to say. Don’t go out without a scarf when it’s this cold outside. It will be nothing but trouble for you if you get sick.”

“You’re unexpectedly perceptive, unusually sharp, and quite well informed for a guy only in his first year, don’t you think?”

“It’s just stuff I’ve heard others mention in passing. Living the life of a loner you also tend to be more attentive to other things. I may not be keen to socialize with others, but as a trade-off, I’ve honed my skills in other areas.”

“You’re… just sly, it’s unfair.” I couldn’t see it with my scarf covering her mouth, but it seemed she was pouting under it.

“I’m not sly at all. If you think I’m sly then you’re greatly overestimating me.”

“Hey, aren’t you cold now that you’ve given me your scarf?”

“Not at all. I’m used to the cold. I just wear a scarf as a fashion statement.”

“There’s nothing fashionable about it at all, it’s just pure black.”

“Oh? Really? I thought it looked quite good. I prefer such plain simple designs when it comes to what I wear.”

“Still, it would be bad if you got a cold because you gave your scarf to me. I’d feel bad. I’m already warmed up, you should take it back.”

“I refuse, I don’t need it. Guys have thicker skin after all. We’re less sensitive to the cold than girls with thin skin like you.”

“That may be true, but it’s not like guys don’t get sick at all from the cold.”

“Well, I’m just an idiot so I don’t catch colds.”

“If you're an idiot then what am I who’s being toyed with by said idiot? I must be an idiot too, so I obviously won’t catch a cold.”

“Hahaha.” I couldn’t stop a small laugh from leaking out.

She suddenly halted in her tracks then unwound the scarf I’d wrapped around her neck in a second. Before I had the chance to react my scarf was back around my neck. Only, it wasn’t just my neck, but hers as well.

She secured it while sticking her body close to mine then said, “If we share it like this neither of us has to be cold and we can both stay warm.”